The Girl and the Ghost
by S.D.Awesome
Summary: A 4-year-old girl named Kate is given her first Pokémon Partner from her Parents for her birthday. But when her parents ( who think they've caught her a Marill) find out that her new Partner isn't what they expected, problems occur and the girl's safety within her small town is threatened to deadly measures.
1. New Arrival

**Okay, who want's to bet this is gonna suck? I will warn you right now, I have ****_NEVER_**** written a Pokemon FanFic in my life, so forgive me for screw-ups. There will be some language and mature material in this, but you chose to read it, so whatever! Don't say I didn't warn you! XD **

**Also, to all you Technicalists out there, I'm not trying to be accurate with recent Pokemon Events! Meaning this 'Fic, in no way, shape, or form, is connected to, or is an extension of the Pokemon Games or Anime. **

**And Just to be clear and so you don't get confused: **

"**This**" = is the Pokemon talking in a human language (Like Meowth or MewTwo from the Anime) or in some future cases, Pokemon talking to each other.

"_**This**_" = is the Pokemon talking in it's own language. (the one humans can't understand)

_'This'_ = is thinking on either side.

"This" = is a human talking.

...::~::...

It was a warm, sunny day in the Kanto Region. At least it was for Amber Town. Now, if someone tried to find Amber Town in the Kanto region map, they wouldn't be able to. The town was far to small to be put on one. But it was there none the less. In fact, Amber Town is were our story takes place...

...::~::...

A man and a woman were approaching the gate to their yard after a long trek back home from the mountains. Their now 4-year-old daughter had just had her birthday a few days ago. As a gift, they had decided to find her a rare Pokemon for her to have as her partner. This little girl was different, however. Nothing seemed to frighten her, except for heights and Houndoom. Understandable since she had fallen a short ways off the cliff on the edge of her yard three years ago, and had gotten attacked by a wild Houndoom the year before that.

As the gate shut with a light click, a cute little blond head poked out the front door, followed by a Wooper,

"Mom, Dad your home!" she shouted in a high, delighted voice. The girl came rushing down the steps, not even bothering to put shoes on. She ran across the wide front yard and nearly tacked her father to the ground with a hug, "I missed you! You were gone for_ever_!" she exclaimed with a smile. Her father laughed, "We had only been gone a week, Kate." he explained. Kate crawled off of her dad and gave her mom a hug too, "Well it felt like forever!"

Her mom giggled, "Do you want to meet your new partner?" she asked with a soft voice. Kate's eyes brightened and a huge smile spread across her face, "Yeah!"

Her mother reached to her belt and removed an Ultra Ball, "Here," she cooed, handing Kate the Ball, "Throw it and see who comes out."

Kate turned to the open yard and threw. The Ultra Ball bounced off the small Oak tree and released the Pokemon inside.

But were was it? Kate looked around the yard but couldn't find her new Pokemon. The grass in the yard was long, but even Wooper couldn't hide in it with out being seen. Kate was young, but she knew for a fact that no Pokemon was_ that_ small.

'_Maybe it's in the tree?_' she thought. She rushed through the grass and stopped a few feet short of the tree's shadow and looked into the branches. Nothing. She turned around sulked back to her mom, "I can't find it." she pouted. Her parents exchanged a confused and worried look.

"It's to big not to notice, Kate." her father told her. "It's not that easy to miss, hun," Her mother assured, "It's not like it can just disappear." she finished in a hushed tone. Kate was worried about her new Pokemon, and she hadn't even met it yet. She didn't want it to disappear.

Watching from behind the tree, hidden in it's shadow, a glaring pair of pale red eyes watched the family. But mostly the little girl,

'_Perfect. I told myself I'd never get caught and look what happened!_' it thought with a steaming irritation. '_Yet another perfect example of why I try _very hard _not to fall asleep!_' it's pointed ears lay flat, and the spiky fur on its neck and back were bristling. Needles to say it was less than pleased,

'_And I didn't even put up a fight! How pathetic is that?!_' the Pokemon let a small growl emit from it's throat. The growl had caught the girl's attention for a split-second before she walked over to the tree's shadow and sat down in the grass in front of it, accompanied by the Wooper.

Her parents hadn't heard the growl, fortunately. They looked at their disappointed daughter and sighed, walking back into the house. Kate just sat there staring into the dark gap in front of her. She knew something was in there. In the shadow. But how could she not see it? The shadow wasn't that dark, so she should have been able to. Wooper just gave her a highly confused look and flopped on his back with boredom.

Kate and Wooper sat there for a few minutes, then hours. The sun was setting over the mountains and it was getting dark. And during that time the Pokemon just stood there. He had come out from behind the tree an hour ago, when he knew it was dark enough. Now he was just leaning on the trunk with a bored expression on his face. And being what he was, he wasn't to fond of boredom. Little did the girl know, she was looking right at him. It was getting kind of annoying actually.

'_How long can this kid stare at something?! I've been standing here for an hour and she hasn't moved!_' speaking of which, his legs were starting to hurt. But he still stood there waiting for the girl to give up. But she didn't...Until a firefly floated past her. She looked at the little glowing bug and smiled. She got up and started to chase it, startling the formerly sleeping Wooper awake. A small, sly, triumphant grin spread across the Pokemon's face, '_Guess I won._' he thought.

Kate was so busy with the firefly, she didn't bother to watch were she was going. She ended up crashing right into the Pokemon hiding in the dark and falling to the ground. She shook her head and stood up, brushing the bits of grass and dirt off her frilly white dress.

"_**Can't you watch were your going?!**_" he shouted, but all the girl heard was a loud growl. Wooper's jaw dropped at the voice. Kate looked up at the sound and the first thing she saw was the faintly glowing red eyes glaring at her. She gasped and took a few steps back, then smiled, "I knew you were in there!" she exclaimed happily. The Pokemon kept glaring at her, '_Only because you heard me the first time!_' he thought.

The Wooper walked right up and looked him in the eyes. And what he saw scared him. Wooper knew of only one Pokemon that had eyes like that. He instantly ran back into the house via a doggy-door. He jumped onto the back of the couch and shouted at the top of his lungs, "**You got her a **_**what**_**now?**!"

Kate's father came out of the kitchen drying his hands off with a cloth, "She found it?" he asked with a smile. "**Like heck she found it, Paul! She ran right into the guy!**" Kate's mother rushed out of the hallway, "She did _what_!?" she demanded, worried. Wooper turned to her, "**She was chasing some random firefly and ran into him.**" he explained in a calm voice.

Paul's eyes widened, "It's a "him" ?" he asked. Wooper glared at him, "**HE is the worst partner you could have gotten her! Out of all the Pokemon out there, you got THAT one!?**"

...::~::...

Kate stood there staring at the red eyes. They didn't seem to nice, but maybe that's because they were glaring at her. Still. Kate rocked back on her heels, not knowing what to say, "Umm... I'm sorry I ran into you." she apologized nervously. The eyes still glared. She dropped her gaze from his. He was intimidating, she'd give him that much. He was also way bigger than her by about a whole foot. She looked over her shoulder at her parents through the big window in the front of her house. They were talking with Wooper, who didn't seem to happy for some reason. She wished she could understand Pokemon, but that would mean a shot and she didn't like shots. She looked back to where the Pokemon was, but the eyes were gone. She gasped and ran around to the other side of the tree. She ran into him again.

Getting up off the ground she frowned up at him, "Okay, this is crazy! You need, like, a few trillion glow sticks on you, 'cause the only part of you I can see is your eyes and I'm getting tired of falling on the ground, and I'm pretty sure you don't like it when I run into you!" she shouted. The eyes had stopped glaring. In fact they had a wide, surprised look to them.

'_Holy crap, kid._' he thought in shock. Kate brushed off her dress once more and started walking to the front door, picking up the forgotten Ultra Ball on the way. She tried to reach the door knob, but she was to short. She looked over her shoulder to the Pokemon with a pleading look, "Mind giving me a hand?" she asked. The Pokemon rolled his eyes and sighed, walking out of the shadow to help her with the door. Now that he wasn't covered by darkness, and the full moon was shining bright, she could finally see what he was. And she almost screamed.

...::~::...

"Wooper what are you talking about?" asked Paul. His Pokemon was still glaring at him, "**You know what I'm talking about! Do you even realize what you got her for a partner!?**" Paul nodded, "Yeah, we got her a Marill." he answered. Wooper stood there with his jaw nearly falling off it's hinges, "**No you didn't. You caught something else instead!**" Kate's mother, Martha, suddenly got a scared look in her eyes, "What did we get her?" she asked, afraid of the answer.

Wooper really wished he didn't have to tell her, "**You got her a-**"

Kate suddenly burst through the door, "Mom, Dad, you guys are the best parents EVER!" she shouted, vibrating with excitement and hugging them both. Martha and Paul looked to the open door and were horrified at what they had caught by accident.


	2. Seeing His Identity

**Wow! thank you for all the reviews on the last chapter, guys! 8D It means a lot!**

**And Im SOOO sorry I kept you guys waiting! D:**

**This might be a bit short though... sorry...**

-

**Twenty Minutes Earlier**

Kate stared up at the Pokemon with wide eyes. He was a Ghost-Type, that's for sure. No Pokemon she knew of was that creepy-looking during a full moon, except for maybe Darkrai. Problem was, her town hated Ghost-Types and was terrified of them, for good reason. So why did her parents get her one? She was a little uneasy about him. This town had a very strict "No Ghost-Types" rule, that can actually get you thrown out of it. But... maybe she could get them to change their minds about Ghost-Types. From what she understood, they only want to play but their playing often came across as mean pranks. She could do it. She could make the town like them.

Seeing what he truly was, she couldn't help but smile a little, just to be friendly, "Your a Ghost?" she said in a light tone. His eyes seemed to soften a little at her smile but they didn't release the frown they had. She reached out a hand to pet him and he quickly took a step backwards. Kate's smile disappeared and she looked up at him, "What's wrong?" she asked in a worried voice. The Pokemon just stood there looking at her, ready to move if she tried to touch him again. She took a step forward off the second stair. He didn't move. She reached a hand out again, but not as far this time. He flinched. Kate figured that he wasn't the "Give me Affection" type of Ghost. Instead, she clasped her hands behind her back and gave him the cutest smile she could come up with, "It's okay. I won't pet you if you don't want me to." she assured him.

Her parents had taught her that showing respect was the first step to having a Partner who would trust you. Kate already trusted him (sort of), but then she remembered that he was still a Ghost. They weren't to big on trust, or friendship for that matter. She'd just have to try to gain his respect in return. At least it would be a start...

Kate jumped off the front steps and walked around her hopefully new best friend. His feet never moved, but he turned his head around to keep an eye on her actions just in case. Kate stopped in front of him and looked him up and down, "What one are you?" she wondered out loud. The Pokemon raised a brow, '_Your kidding me?_' he thought, '_She doesn't know what I am?_'

Kate sighed and gave up, "Oh well. That's what a Pokedex is for." She looked back at his eyes and she noticed a difference. They were more pinkish in color now. Kate thought that was pretty cool. Seriously, how often is it that you meet a Pokemon who's eye color can change? In fact, it actually got her pretty exited, "What moves can you do?" she asked with a big grin. The Pokemon looked at her with wide eyes,

'_She wants me to show her my moves?! YEAH RIGHT! Not if your life depended on it, kid_.' he thought crossing his arms and turning his back to her. Kate suddenly got a thought. Maybe she was taking this thing a bit to fast. So she decided to take the classic approach to making friends. Something she neglected to do.

Introduce herself.

She hesitantly reached her hand out, "Umm..." she touched his back lightly. His fur was thick and bristly, felt kind of sharp and the air around him was also cold, but his body wasn't. But the tap got his attention. He quickly looked over his shoulder and fixed her with a poisonous glare, letting a low growl emit from his throat, "**_Don't push your luck, kid._**" he warned. As if she understood him, she quickly took a step back and folded her hands behind her back, "I'm sorry!" she apologized, "It's just... I don't know your name so I didn't know how to get your attention." she explained, avoiding his glaring eyes.

When she said that, he felt like the worlds biggest idiot. How the hell was she supposed to get his attention? Throw something at him? The kid was at least four years old, five at the most. And remembering from previous experience, that hostility never played out to well with kids her age, he supposed he could tone it down to irritation... maybe. He softened his glare to an aggressive frown (yes, there is a difference), and turned to face the girl with his arms still crossed. Kate gathered her courage and looked at him, "So, umm.. I just noticed I forgot to tell you my name."

He just stood there. She took his silence and consistent expression as permission to tell him, and she smiled,

"My name is Kathrine Elizabeth Anderson, but you can call me Kate." she said in her normal cheery voice. At her cute introduction, he couldn't help but instantly loose the frown altogether. He sighed and knelt down on one knee, too get closer to her height, '_I guess I could show her one move._' She gave him a puzzled look. He clasped his clawed hands together in front of her, and she watched curiously. As he took his hands apart, a large, smokey, glowing dark purple ball formed between them. Kate's eyes widened and a huge grin spread across her face. He showed her a move! An actual move! ... but she didn't know what it was.

Her grin faded and she looked up at him, "What move is that?" she asked. He took one hand away and held the ball in the other. He pointed to her shadow, cast by the moonlight. She followed his gesture, "... Shadow?" she asked. He nodded, then pointed to the ball in his left hand.  
"Ball?" another correct answer. He crushed the orb in his hand, extinguishing it. She put the two words together, "That was Shadow Ball?" he nodded. Now overly exited, Kate was almost vibrating with happiness. So happy in fact, that she almost hugged him. She spun around to the front door and tried to open it, but Kate was to short. She looked at the Ghost over her shoulder, hand still extended to the knob, "Umm... could you help me open the door?" she asked in a low, shy voice. The Pokemon got up and crossed his arms, tilting his ears back slightly and raising a brow.

Kate looked at his expression. It was like he was waiting for something. She looked away from him and ran the question through her head again and again. She gasped in shock when she found the problem,  
'_Manners, Kate, manners!_' she thought, scolding herself for forgetting something so important.

She quickly corrected herself and looked him in the eyes, "Could you help me open the door, _please_?" the Ghost's expression vanished, he uncrossed his arms and walked over to the door and turned the door knob and opened it for her. Kate took a single step into the house, remembered her manners and turned back to him, "Thank you." she said with an adorable smile. She then suddenly bolted into the house,

"Mom, Dad! you guys are the best parents EVER!"

...::~::... Present...

Kate's parents stared in horror. How could they have caught something like him and not notice?! Wooper looked from Kate, to the Pokemon in the doorway, then to Kate again. She looked happy. Like, REALLY happy. Had he done something to make her laugh? Unlikely, but possible. He was a Ghost-Type after all, and they did like making people laugh. But mostly themselves at someone's expense.

He watched as Kate turned and sped off to her room, and came back with a black object that was thin like an iPhone, but very similar to a Nintendo DS. She walked up to the dark Pokemon and flipped the top up, "Lets find out what you are." she hit the 'Scan' button

The Pokedex got nothing,

~*No Pokemon found.*~ was its reply. Kate frowned. She could see him, her parents and Wooper could see him. So why didn't the Pokedex see him? She looked over the screen. Maybe he was to dark for it to see? Kate flicked on the out-door light and it lit up the yard, '_There. That should work_.' she thought. She hit the 'Scan' button again. This time the Pokedex made a little beep sound,

~*_Gengar- The. Shadow. Pokemon: Under a full moon, Gengar like to manipulate the shadows of people and laugh at their fright. Gengar use the ability to hide in someone's shadow to steel their life-force when their guard is down_.*~

Kate's eyes widened considerably at the Pokedex data, '_That's a little creepy..._'

Kate's mother suddenly walked up behind her, picked her up and quickly moved to the living room, distancing herself and her daughter from the Ghost, in the process making Kate drop the Pokedex on the ground. Gengar frowned slightly and tipped his ears backwards, a bit offended at both her actions and the Pokedex entry. He wasn't that bad...Was he?

The only time he had deliberately been mean to someone or even thought about taking a soul was when...

... He pushed the thought from his head. His ears perked up again at the sound of Kate's protest to her mother's actions.

"He's not bad mom!" she shouted in a pleading voice. Martha shouted back, "He's a Gengar! Did you not hear the Pokedex?! He's bad, Kate!"

He flattened his ears once more, '_Again with the insults?_' he thought, '_What did I ever do to you?_'  
Kate kicked and squirmed trying to get free of her mothers tight grasp, "Just because he's a Gengar, doesn't mean he's a bad one!"

Gengar's heart skipped a beat at her words and his breath caught in his throat, utterly shocked that those words came from a four-year-old. Meanwhile, Wooper and Paul were keeping a close eye on him, but Wooper had heard what Kate had said and it got him thinking. If this Gengar was one of the highly common "bad" ones, then wouldn't he have tried to prank or hurt Kate by now? Shouldn't he be blending in with the shadows inside, waiting for an opportunity instead of just standing at the door, watching?

What if Kate was right, and this Gengar was nice? Or at least as nice as a Gengar could get. But he shook his head and sighed. Even if Kate was right and her parents let her keep him, there would still be the risk of the town Council finding out, and Kate would get banished. And once you get banished from Amber Town, you can never come back, ever, and Kate had no other family other than her parents.

He glanced over to the door. The Gengar was still there, watching Kate and Martha arguing. He turned his head to Paul. His attention was also drawn to the dispute. Paul wasn't Kate's Biological father, but he acted like he was and did a great job on Kate's part. But even so, Paul didn't think he had a right to join a violent debate between his wife and Kate. He might make things worse.  
Wooper turned back to the argument. Kate had gotten free of her mother and was now standing on the floor, close to sobbing, "But why can't I keep him?!"  
Martha was trying to not get angry. She took a deep breath and spoke to Kate in a calm voice, "Because. He's a Ghost-Type, Kate. And Ghost-Type's aren't allowed in Amber Town."  
"Why not?!"  
"Because the Council says so."  
"That's no fair!"  
"Kate!" Martha shouted. She took another deep breath, "Sweetie, he's not nice like you think he is."  
"Yes he is. I asked him to open the door for me, but he wouldn't do it until I said 'please'."

Wooper gave the Gengar a shocked look and the Ghost gave him a sideways glare, '_If you say one word, one word, I swear you'll regret it_.'

Kate's mother looked at the Gengar. He had been outside, in the dark, alone with Kate and he still hadn't done anything to harm her. He even went as far as to remind Kate of her manners.

Perhaps... he really wasn't as bad as the Council had made his kind sound. Maybe the Council was the problem. She looked down at Kate a smiled a little, "I bet he must be thirsty. Why don't you get him something to drink?" Kate's face lit up like Christmas lights and a huge smile spread across it.

She zipped over to the kitchen, climbed up onto the counter and took a mug from the cupboard. She crawled down to the floor and grabbed a can of lemonade from the fridge and poured it into the cup.

As Kate was lifting the cup off the counter, she heard an uneasy sound come from Wooper. Kate turned her head to acknowledge him, "What's up Wooper?"

He turned to look at the Gengar who was now inside the house at Martha's request. The Gengar was looking at his surroundings with what appeared to be suspicion and distrust in his eyes. Now that he was inside, Kate saw how tall and dark he really was. His thick fur was so dark in colour that it looked black instead of purple. He was taller too. Much taller. Kate guessed he was pretty close to six feet, or a few inches shorter.

Kate shrugged that off though. She walked over to him and held the mug up, "Here you go." she said with a smile. Gengar gave the drink a suspicious frown and looked back to Kate. Kate giggled, "I didn't do anything to it, if that's what your thinking,"  
The cup got another frown from him. Kate sighed, "It's just plain lemonade, I promise." she assured. Gengar took the mug from her and took a sip, not taking his eyes off of her. He didn't smell any poison or knock-out drugs. Just lemons and sugar.

As he drank, Kate picked up the Pokedex and held it up to her mom, "What else does it say?" she asked. Martha took the gadget from her and read the statistics out loud,

"It says that Gengar have no set life span, and no one knows how long a healthy one can live for. Their body color can be pale lilac purple to twilight purple-" she glanced at the Gengar. He was darker than twilight purple.  
"Their eye color can be a solid, faded pink to scarlet red. Gradient eyes are nonexistent-" she looked at Gengar again. His pink eyes grew more scarlet as the color got closer to the pupil. A gradient eye color.

"They use negative energy as a power source and will resort to "eating" dreams if they are starving-"  
"They eat dreams?!" Kate interrupted with a baffled expression.  
"Yes they do. But only if they have no food."  
Kate calmed down, "Oh."

Martha skimmed the rest of the stats, "Well, other than what I read, there is nothing to important about Gengar in here." she said handing Kate the Pokedex. Kate took it and folded the top down, placing it on the kitchen table (but having to stand on her tip-toes to do so). After that, she skipped/bounced her way over to her mom and just stood there smiling. Martha placed a hand on Kate's shoulder, "So what are you going to name him?" she asked with a gentile voice.

Gengar's ears perked slightly and he looked at them with suspicion. Kate looked up at her mother, confused, "What do you mean?" Martha smiled, "I mean you can't keep calling him 'Gengar', Kate. Give him a nickname." Kate stared at Gengar with a thoughtful look…. it was making him uncomfortable actually….

'_Please don't let this be what I think it is…_.' he prayed, still looking at them from over the brim of the cup.


End file.
